Burwell Vs. Hobby Lobby Case Analysis

The majority stated that the provision allowing students to absent themselves from this activity did not make the law constitutional because the purpose of the First Amendment was to prevent government interference with religion. The majority noted that religion is very important to a vast majority of the American people. Since Americans adhere to a wide variety of beliefs, it is not appropriate for the government to endorse any particular belief system. The majority noted that wars, persecutions, and other destructive measures often arose in the past when the government involved itself in religious affairs.

The case was first heard in Pennsylvania but once that court ruled the law did not violate the first amendment he appealed and took it to the Supreme Court. In this hearing his main argument was that the law was in direct violation with the constitution which did not tolerate religions benefiting from state laws.The court went over the “three main evils” in order to prevent sponsorship, financial support, and involvement of the sovereign in religious activity. The first of those three tests is that the statute has to have a legislative purpose. Second, the principle must not advance or inhibit religion. Third, the statute cannot foster “ an excessive government entanglement with religion”. The Lemon v. Kurtzman case along with the Earley et al.v. DiCenso both passed the first test. Both had the intention to enhance quality of education. This argument convinced the judge and the law was considered unconstitutional. Not only did this case violate the first amendment but also the fourteenth amendment. That amendment states that a state cannot enforce a law that should take away the privileges of the citizens of the United States. It also mentions that a state should not deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without the due processing of law. Especially with the DiCenso case though complete separation was impossible. Therefore, the decision wasn’t made for absolute separation but instead prevent encroachment as much as possible. Examples of that would be ensuring that the church followed building regulations and requiring that schools comply with the school attendance laws.This led to the creation of the lemon test which is not what it seems. Instead it is a classification system used to see if state laws regarding creating and the funding of religious institutions with money from the public is

state. What is the established boundary between church and state? This case would be the

1 A) From a historical perspective, the United States was a Christian nation from 1600 to around 1940’s despite efforts to enforce the notion that the state is separate from the church. The main reason for this was due to the characteristics of the Puritans which included being strict and religious. The Puritans were persecuted from Britain for going against the church of England and declaring a divine intervention for their faith known as “Errand in the wilderness”. During the Great Awakening from 1730’s to the 1740’s there was a call for the state to get rid of religious hierarchy and place a more egalitarian system in its place. The great awakening, an Evangelical movement, was marked my emotionally driven sermons, and yet was also marked

The first amendment may seem like something that is generally understood among all of those who use it, but this may not be the case. While most citizens of the United States of America would certainly say that they understand and can comprehend what the first amendment means, an underlying lack of knowledge, upon what is presumed to be the most important of all the amendments, can still be discovered. “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people to peaceably assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” The specific piece of the first amendment that is particularly important

The Equal Access Act upheld by the Supreme Court in Board of Education v. Mergens, 1990, requires public secondary schools to allow access to religiously based student groups on the same basis as other student clubs. The school administration denied a group of students their right to create a Christian after school club. The students intended for their club to have just the same privileges and club meetings as all other after school clubs. The schools excuse being that it lacked faculty support which led to the school and district being sued by the students. “The students alleged that Westside 's refusal violated the Equal Access Act, which requires that schools in receipt of federal funds provide "equal access" to student groups seeking to express "religious, political, philosophical, or other content" messages” (Board of Education of Westside Community Schools v. Mergens by and Through Mergens). Many still argue today that Westside 's prohibition against the Christian club, consistent with the Establishment Clause, makes the Equal Access Act unconstitutional.

While reading Anthem, a very collective society was shown. But how different is the life depicted in the book compared to the style of life in America? Is America like the cut throat collectivist society shown in Anthem or is it more individualistic? Overall, America is a more individual society because the First Amendment promotes individualism, people in The United States can choose their own career and our government, which is a democracy, is created through individual ideas and opinions.

There are many views and opinions of the state of the United States on this subject. It has long been a puzzling issue that never seems to seize. America should have religious freedom, because it is a constitutional right to Americans. Prayer in school, gay marriage, and governmental control, are among some of the main issues in this topic.

To begin with, the first amendment is very important to the Constitution and our daily life. In the first amendment there are five freedoms given to American citizens, the freedom of religion (from religion too), press, speech (expression), assembly, and the right to petition against the government. According to the article “First Amendment” on kidlaws.com, the freedom of religion,

To establish which amendment in the Bill of Rights is the most influential to the preservation of liberty, one must first determine the true meaning of the word liberty. The Oxford dictionary defines liberty as “The state of being free within society from oppressive restrictions imposed by authority on one's way of life, behaviour, or political views.” Not only is this one of the core values ingrained into the base of our American culture, but it is also one of the main characteristics of a successful community (“First Amendment.”) Many societies argue that citizens do not have basic rights, the first amendment does the best job at protecting the nation's rights from the government by giving individuals freedom of speech, religion, and freedom of petition. The First Amendment has five freedoms guaranteed for the American people’s such as the right to religion, speech, and petition. This is arguably the most important amendment to liberty, and a person’s right to free will. The first amendment states “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or

This amendment safeguards American’s rights to freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly, and petition. By protecting our freedom of religion, the government cannot force a religion on the people and allows us to choose and practice any religion that we want to, how we want to. Since I grew up in a practicing Christian household, I can truly appreciate and place great worth in this amendment for defending my right to believe in what I want to believe in. Through protecting our freedom of speech, it allows us to speak out and voice our opinions on the government and express our feelings about political figures, laws, regulations, etc. By also protecting our right to assemble and petition, Americans can request for changes and adjustments

These two pieces were created to calm fears that the Constitution as a document was flawed and might lead to abuses of power or become so unstable as not to function. There were many issues that the constitution needed to address, that the articles of confederation did not and other types of government did not either. The Federalist Papers No. 51 and No. 10 and the Bill of Rights explain these issues and solutions.

The case of Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. has opened the door for corporations to deny all kinds of protections and laws to their employees. What if the corporation in question was a car insurance company, and they did not want to cover their employees birth control? Would they still hold the same position if a citizen (or a whole state) claimed religious exemption to being forced to purchase car insurance? When asking if corporations should have religious freedoms, I think the more crucial question is should a corporation be considered a person. This relates to how we interpret the 14th Ammendment of the US Constitution. Only the people within the grouping of the corporation should be considered people and have religious freedom. Also, the rights of one person should never take precedent over, or limit, the rights of another.

The case of Kiryas Joel v. Grummet, 512 U.S. 687 (1994) was a case in which the New York Village of Kiryas Joel, a religious enclave of Satmar Hasidim, and its incorporators drew its boundaries under the state’s general village incorporation law to exclude all but Satmars (Find Law, 2015) in a separate district.